[OS X TeX] MacTeX-2008 Status

[Peder Axensten]

The point of torrents is that the "server" is distributed to the  
clients. The price for a handy download is that you also contribute as  
a server. The "socially accepted" is to allow twice as much upload as  
the amount you downloaded. If nobody allows uploads, there is nowhere  
to download from.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_(protocol)

A very nice client for MacOS X is Transmission. Be sure to use a  
recent version (present version is 1.33), since early versions  
contained a bug that affected big files.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/19378/transmission
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_client

BitTorrents seem to be associated with pirate copy distribution, but  
it is a very efficient protocol for distributing large files to many  
clients.

Hälsar,
/Peder



On 3 sep 2008, at 10.01, Bruno Voisin wrote:

> Le 3 sept. 08 à 06:55, Richard Koch a écrit :
>
>> I don't know anything about BitTorrent, so asking me questions is  
>> hopeless. If you don't know BitTorrent, but go to the site hoping  
>> to find a standard download button, you'll be disappointed.  And be  
>> prepared to look at some risqué ads.
>
> From what I read, BitTorrent means that, while you are downloading  
> some stuff from a BitTorrent server, your computer is turned itself  
> into a server through which other computers are downloading the same  
> stuff. In other words, you get what you asked for, but you  
> contribute something in return.
>
> I can't put my hands on it, but I remember vaguely reading  
> directives from university computing services prohibiting BitTorrent  
> traffic, or at least recommending strongly against it, since this  
> means in effect handing over university computing resources to third  
> parties (ie  donating university resources to third parties, even if  
> only temporarily). Or maybe it was just a system administrator  
> advising against BitTorrent in a conversation, I'm not sure.
>
> In any case, I don't like the idea of traffic going through my  
> computer without myself knowing what goes through and where, so I  
> won't be using BitTorrent.
>
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